Power steam-feed lever



June 17, 1930. E. J. GIBSON I POWER STEAM FEED LEVER 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed June 5, 1927 INVENTOVR ATTORNEY June 17, 1930. E. J. GIBSON POWER STEAM FEED LEVER 4 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 5, 1927 W v W &

INVENTQR Gibson,

ATTORNEY 2e tinguishing Patented June 17, 1930 EDWIN J. GIBSON, OF ORLEAN, NEW YORK POWER STEAM-FEED LEVER Application filed June 3, 1927. Serial No. 196,316.

10 eventually produces fatigue, with a consequent. drop in production. t

' The general object of my invention is to provide a lever having generally the function vof the type of lever now employed, but

15 coordinated with power means'whereby the lever will obeythewill oi the operator without the employment of force or particular effort. 1

The nature of my inventionand its disfeatures and advantages will clearl appear as the description proceeds.

Re erence-is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ot this specification, it being understood that the drawings are merely illustrative of one example of the invention. g

Figure-l is a longitudinal vertical section taken at the lever and through the power cylinder.

Figure 2 lever. A Figure 3 is a horizontal section as indlcated by the line 3-3 in Figure 1.

I Figure ,4: is a transverse vertical section is a vertical cross section at the indicated by the line 4.4=vof Figure 1.

It is to be understood that the design of the lever and its appurtenances and connectionsare such that the operator is required to. move only a small valve controlling the power medium which operates a piston in the power cylinder, the medium of power being fluid under pressure.

In carrying out my invention in practice in accordance with the illustrated example, I provide a feed lever in the form of a main part 1 rockable on a fulcrum pin 2, and a control lever part 3 pivoting on the upper end of the main part 1, as at 4. The numeral 5 indicates the power cylinder which operates a reciprocating piston 6, the numeral 7 indicating the piston rod. The piston rod 7 extends through both ends of the cylinder 5 to balance the piston, that is to say, so as to have the same area at both ends of the piston. The inner end of the piston rod 7 is provided with a cross head 8 to which is attached a guide rod 9 to steady the piston rod, said guide rod 9 having movement in a thickened portion 10 of the housing 29. A link 11 is pivotally secured at one end to the cross head 8, the opposite end ofsaid link 11 being connected to the main'part l of the feed lever by means of a pin 13. Thus the main part of lever 1 is connected to the cross head 8 by link 11, because of which said main part 1 of the lever is constrained to follow the movement of the piston 6. The cylinder 5 is formed with twopassages 14 and 15 leading to the cylinder 5 at the opposite ends. Said passages 14 and 15 communicate with pressure fluid chamber 17 supplying 'fiui-d,'the passage of which is controlled by a valve plug 16 reciprocating at the lower end of said passage and controlling the same. The arrangement is such that the plug valve 16 when in its central position, as indicated in Figure 1, permits the fluid pressure to enter freely both ends of the cylinder 5, thus exerting equal pressure at both ends 01 the 1 piston 6 and no movement of the piston results. If, on the other hand, the valve plug 16 is moved endwise to the desired extent the fluid under pressure will pass to only one end of the cylinder while the other end of the cylinder will be open to exhaust chamber 18, and thence to waste pipe 19 to carry oil the fluid forced out by the movement of piston 6. The numeral 20 indicates a supply pipe by which the fluid under pressure passes into the chamber 17 A bell crank lever or two-armed lever 21 is pivoted to a shaft or pivot 22. One arm of the bell crank lever 21 is connected with plug valve 16 by means of links 23. Apivot 5 arrangement is such that while the two parts 1 and 3 of thefeed lever are in a straight line the bell crank 21 and plug valve 16 do not move no matter what arc the feed lever is moved through, as indicated in dot and dash lines at the right and left of Figure 1. r This is due to the fact that the pins 2 and 2st coincide under the condition stated. If, however, the parts land 2 of the feed lever are not in a straight line by reason of the rocking of the part 3 to positions indicated at the right and left of the'said lever part 3 of Figure 1, then the bell crank 21 will rock on its pivot shaft 22 and the valve plug 16 is moved endwise through the medium of links 23, causing a condition such'that pressure is admitted at only one end of cylinder 5'to exert its force on the piston 6.

An extension arm 30 is provided on the lever part 3, and has lateral members 27, through each of which a screw 28 extends so that a stop is provided to limit the movement of the lever. part 3 at its pivot 4: and relatively to the main part 1, by reason of the screws 28 contacting with the side edges of said lever part 1. Byadjustment ofthe screws 28 the movement permitted the lever part 3 relative to the lever part 1 may be varied. r

The operation of my improved power feed lever is as follows: Assuming that the operator grips the handle end of the part 3 of the feed lever and 'moves it to the right, viewing it as in Figure 1, the lever part 1 will not partake of said movement of lever part 3. Through the connecting rod 26 the bell crank 21 will thus be rocked on its pivot 22 and will pull the plug valve 16 to. the left of Figure 1. The result is that the lefthand passage is leading to the cylinder will be wide open for the flow of the fluid into the cylinder at the lefthand end of the piston 6. Also the passage 15 will be at the same time connected with exhaust chambers 17 and 18. Hence there is no pressure on the right hand end of the piston 6 so the piston will move, due to the pressure at the left of the piston, and will pull the lever part 1 to the right, which is in the same direction that the operator moved the lever part 3. The lever part 1 will continue to move to the right as long as the operator moves the lever part 3 in that direction and in moving the lever part 3 toward the dotted line position shown at the right of the full lines of said lever part in Figure 1. When the operator stops his movement of the lever part 3 to working parts.

the right, the piston 6 will continue to move until lever part 1 is in a straight line with the lever part 3, when the plug valve 16 returns to its central position .and there is equal pressure on both ends of the piston. The extreme position of the lever as the operation has been outlined would be the right-hand dotted line position of the lever parts 1 and 3 in Figure 1, but the feed levercan of course be stopped at any angle between the central full line position and the extreme of movement in either direction.

Ly pulling the lever 3 to the left, in the opposite direction from that described, the conditions in the cylinder 5 will be reversed and the piston will move in the same direcrigid lever. By removing link 11 this rigid v lever canrock on'its pivot 2, as indicated in dotted lines by positions Aand B without imparting motion to bell crank 21 or any other; part constituting the power actuating 7 means.

Another distinguishingfeature of my vention is that the power from the power means (cylinder5 and piston 6) is received by the lever and transmitted through it to the point of efi'ective work in the lower end of lever 1 where the steam feed valve con-, nection 101 is coupled to it. :The poweris transmitted through the lever 1 because the power means is connected to the lever at one point (12) and the effective work is doneat another point (rod 101), with the lever pivot or fulcrum (2) intermediate the I two points (12 and 101% Hence the actuating energy is furnished firstv to the lever and thence to the pointof effective work. In known devices of this type thelower end of the lever is merely coupled to the driving means between the power means and the I would state furthermore that while the illustrated example constitutes'a practical embodiment of my invention, I do not limit myself strictly to the exact details herein illustrated, since, manifestly, the same can be considerably varied without departure from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

I claim:

In a power actuated and manually controlled device for operating steam feed valves, a fluid pressure reversingmeans, a lever mounted on a fixed pivot, a connection between said lever and said means, a

link pivotally connected to the driving member of the fluid pressure reversing means and coupled to the lever at a point above the pivot of the lever so that the motion imparted by the power means is sustained by the lever, a bell crank rockably mounted on a fixed pivot, the horizontal arm of the bell crank having a pin so located that said pin coincides with the lever pivot when the bell crank is in neutral position,

a single connection from the pin on the bell crank to a pin on a manually operated controlling lever pivotally mounted at the upper end of said lever, the vertical arm of the bell crank being adapted for connection with the valve regulating the motion of the fluid pressure reversing means, and means to 1 convert the power actuating lever into a manually actuated lever operating Without imparting-motion to any of the power actuating parts.

EDWIN J. GIBSON. 

